Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: Organizer
Date: April 27, 2005
The honour of the Himalayas is at
stake. Just four years after Pakistan's ignominious defeat at Kargil, its
military oligarchy appears set to achieve its goals by other means. The
UPA's 'Open Borders' policy is creating an untenable situation in the country
and in the absence of a sharply articulated opposition to Islamabad's 'walk-in'
infiltration policy, there is a real danger that our national security
and territorial integrity may be seriously compromised.
The first wake up call came during
the course of the recent cricket tour by the Pakistani team in March, when
it was discovered that 11 so-called "fans" did not return home from Mohali,
causing suspicion that they may be Pakistani intelligence agents or terrorist
operatives taking advantage of India's liberal visa policy.
The second and more serious alert
has come with a Pakistani woman, Farida Ghani, arriving on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad
peace bus and filing claims for restoration of ancestral property which
her father abandoned when opting for Pakistan. The claim is not as innocuous
as it may appear on the surface. When millions of Hindus were forced to
flee both East and West Pakistan (indeed, the violence against Hindus was
the reason why Congress leaders conceded the Partition), it was the Government
of India that was responsible for their rehabilitation. I am not aware
of any compensation package from Mr. Mohammad Ali Jinnah's government,
though we are all aware that Mahatma Gandhi fasted unto death to ensure
that Pakistan received Rs. 55 crores from the Indian treasury and thereby
facilitated its first war upon India.
Yet Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed,
who has done nothing for the Pandits who were cleansed out of the valley,
lost no time in promising that his government would evict occupants of
evacuee properties when the former owners returned. This is patently absurd
both by the statute of limitations as well as the law of adverse possession.
Indeed, it points to a more sinister conspiracy.
A brief digression is in order to
understand Mufti's promise. Two decades ago, J & K passed the Resettlement
Act 1982 which permitted those who migrated to Pakistan between 1947 and
1954 to return and claim rights as Indian citizens. The Act proposed setting
up a competent authority to scrutinize applications of those seeking resettlement
in J & K. Governor B.K. Nehru returned the Bill to the Assembly and
in September 1982 President Giani Zail Singh sought an opinion from the
Supreme Court regarding its constitutional validity. The Supreme Court
returned the Presidential reference in 2000 without giving an opinion,
but has currently issued a stay on the Act.
The Act violates the provisions
of the Indian constitution and those of the Indian Citizenship Act. If
implemented, it could cause more than two lakh Pakistani claimants, many
of whom are active members of the Taliban, to descend upon the country.
But what is at stake is not just some landed property of one person or
one lakh persons, but the possibility that grounds are being laid for turning
Kashmir into India's East Timor. This threat already exists in the north-east
where Christian missionaries are not shy of using violence in pursuit of
their conversion agenda. There is a real fear that Mufti may seek National
Conference assistance in passing the Resettlement Act 1982 once again during
the next session of the State Assembly. He would thus actively tilt the
demography of the area in favour of Pakistan. After that, a little violence
is all that would be needed to bring in the UN and a referendum!
Mercifully, the Joint Action Committee
Evacuees Property, an umbrella group of twelve refugee committees, has
jumped into the fray. The organization has rightly accused the PDP-Congress
regime of duplicity in offering citizenship rights and properties to bona
fide Pakistani citizens while refugee families in Jammu are denied rights
over ancestral properties and citizenship for more than 50 years and live
as outsiders in their own land.
Most alarming, however, is the report
from a Srinagar daily, which claims that India and Pakistan have secretly
agreed to redefine the borders without conceding any major part of J &
K territory to each other. This solution has reportedly been discussed
with the Mirwaiz Omar Farooq-led All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which
accepted it, but the Geelani group rejected it.
The purported plan - which facilitates
an easy annexation of J & K by Pakistan - envisages granting greater
autonomy to both parts of J&K. India would grant Kashmir its pre-1953
status which gives the State full autonomy in all respects barring foreign
affairs, communications and defence. The Governor and Chief Minister would
be known as the President and Prime Minister respectively. Pakistan would
similarly extend greater autonomy to so-called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Ultimately, it is said, the secret deal envisages converting the Line of
Control into an international border, with some minor modifications.
All this underlines, more than ever
before, the need for a serious rethink on the continuance of Article 370
by all nationalist parties. Since the Indian Parliament had twice passed
a Resolution staking claim to all of Jammu & Kashmir that acceded to
India in 1948, there is no reason to believe that political parties will
not take the threat seriously if properly acquainted with the facts. A
beginning must be made in this direction without further delay.
